Indicator card for annunciators and the like



Aug 6, 1935- R. s. EDWARDS 2,010,775

INDICATOR CARD FOR ANNUNGIATORS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 7, 1932 @4Q/z i E i E @mulini E 4;? i E E i i I31mm: .i MAIDI b a 1 1 I 5 1 :PRES t j 45 $45 V` 5 4&7 E EVALET: 5 1 -5 E 3 KJ I i486 1 t l ECHL- li I I. .L -:mz3: I 1 .48%. 1?: 2 z 'z t i i I5 f/Q fZO /2/ x22 f3 w34 ,-25 ./-26 fZf Q9 usmm 55o TELLER 3 MMD YL 5s" Q?? --.MLU/ 4. .l:;l .;a\l8b 35 381,- 1 36 3g# /7 la L37 3@ u /lNvl-:NToR` ,gb l'foe' J5'- Edwards TTORNEYS Patented Aug. 6, 1935l Y I l vUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE INDICATOR CARD Fon ANNUNoIA'roRs c AND THE LIKE Robert S. Edwards, New Rochelle, N. Y., assignor to Edwards and Company, Inc., a. corporation of New York Application January 7, 1932, scric1Nc;5s5,255

Vi. claims. (ci. zel- 43) Y.This invention relates to indicating meansV and in the provision and mounting thereof in place the methodof producing the same. as Well as in the handling and commercial ship- One of the objects of this invention isto proping thereof. Also, the mounting of cards bearvide a simple, inexpensive, and practical identiing indicia or designations according to prior i 5 fying card and holder therefor that will be well practice, has been cumbersome, crude, and in- 5 adapted Y.to meet the varying conditions of hard secure. One of the dominant aims of this inpractical use. Another object is to provide a vention is to eliminate, in a thoroughly dependsimple and dependable arrangement for holding able, efficient, and inexpensive way, such diiiiculacard bearing identifyingindicia in position such ties as. those above-mentioned, and to greatly as, for example, on the drops of an electric `or facilitate the manufacture, supply, handling, and lo .other annunciator. Another` object Vis to promounting of such cards. vide a simple, inexpensive, and thoroughly prac- Referring now to the drawing and more partical method of making cards bearing identifytioularly to Figure 1, I have shown a card holder ing indicia. Another object is to provide an ingenerally indicated at III which, in accordance expensive and convenient supply of indicating with certain features of my invention, is prefer- 15 `cards well adapted to meet the Widely varying ably made of `sheet metal, having a back portion requirements of` practical use. `Another object is II of a generally quadrangular or rectangular .to provide devices of the above-mentioned charshape and provided with upper and lower benta `acter that will `make for great saving in time in over flanges I2 and I3 which may be integrally M 2n production, shipping, and handling, as` well as formed with the part II and which are thus made 2o in assembly. Other objects will be -in part obto provide two parallel horizontally extending vious or in part pointed out hereinafter. grooves or slots or ways. Illustratively, the device The invention accordingly consists in the fea- I0 may be considered t0 be part 0f an annunciatures of construction, combinations of elements, tor, such as the so-called drop thereof adapted arrangements of parts and in the several steps to be moved by any suitable mechanism from a 25 `and relation and order of ,each of the same to position where it is invisible to a position where one or more of the others, all as will be illusit becomes visible so as to display a. suitable tratively described herein, and the scope of the designation or identifying indicia; in such case application of which will be indicated in the folit may be provided with wings, one of which is lowing claims. I shown at I4 adapted to be pivoted as at I5 so as to 30 In the accompanying drawing in which are be swung from one of the above-mentioned poshownseveral of `the various possible embodisitions to the other. Inasmuch as the means for ments of the mechanical features of my invenmoving the device I0 are not per se part of my gtion, 1 i invention they are not shown or described but f isa perspective view of an indicator may take any suitable form. 35

cardirelatedto its holder; In practice an annunciator may have any num- Figure 2 Ais a similar view of a possible modiber of such drops to identify any one of a corfied form; y i 'f responding number of points from which a signal Figure Sisjav plan view on a smaller scale, of initiates. These designations may be numerical v a sheet of cards showing the latter in one stage and in Figure 1 the numeral I may be con- 40 of my process, and sidered illustrative. These designations, how- Figure 4 is a View similar to that of Figure 3 ever, may also include a large variety of words, but showing amodied form. suchas Maid, Valet, Butler, Front door,

Similar :reference characters refer to similar @Rear door, Master bedroom, Cashier,

,45 `parts throughout the several views of the draw- Boy, Teller, President, depending upon the ing. y i. use to which the particular annunciator and the As conducive to a clearer understanding of number of drops therein are put. Y `certain features of myA invention, it `might here To meet the widely varying requirements of ,be pointed Voutthat in practice, particularly in practical use, in this particular respect, has in annunciators, there `aneed for a relatively practice been an expensive and troublesome pro- 50 great variety of designation vor identifying incedure, but in accordance with certain features dicia and that,in accordance with practice hereof my invention, I dependably eliminate such tofore known, .the supply and mounting of ap- Vdifliculties.

propriatecards that bear the requisite indicia has Turning now to Figure 4, I first provide a sheet 5 been fraught Withdiflieulty and annoyance both generally indicated at I6 of a suitable material 5?5 which may be of a suitable cardboard. This sheet is preferably rectangular in shape and on it I print, in regularly alined vertical and horizontal rows `all of the more usual identifying designations met with in practice.

In Figure 4 there are shown nine horizontal rows and ten vertical rows of designations of which only a few are actually reproduced in Figure fi, the rest being indicated by the indicated rectangles, and with this illustrative arrangement of nine horizontal rows and ten vertical rows, I am enabled to print on a single sheet ninety different designations of which those above-mentioned may be considered illustrative or typical. Preferably these designations are different, though I may duplicate such of those as are met with more frequently in practice.

The printing may be achieved in a single operation inasmuch as the designations, thus alined horizontally and vertically, are easy to set up in type orare easilyformed into a single printing plate. The printing may be in any desired colors or the designations may be printed in black o a white background or vice versa.

`Some of the spaces may be left blank so that the Vultimate user may print or letter or apply his own designation or identifying indicia in case the users requirement is of such an unusual character as-not to be met by any of the actually printed designations. For such purpose I may print or provide rectangular spaces in place of the designation so as to provide an accurate guide 'within which the user may apply his own indicia;

Figure i I have shown two rectangular spaces I? and i8 provided each with two rectangular outlined blank spaces Ila, Ilb and Ita, Ib, respectively, as illustrative of how I provide for this contingency.

After the printing has been completed, I cut the 'sheet I@ along the lines indicated at I9, 2li, 2 l, 22, 225i, 25, 26 and 2l, thus physically to sever the vertical rows of rectangularly shaped spaces from each other but it is to be noted that these lines of cutting I9, 2li, 2I, etc., terminate well within the upper and lower parallel horizontal edges of the sheet le, thus to provide upper and lower margins it@ and lh which hold the vertical rows together. Where there are ten vertical rows of printed designations, I therefore provide nine lines of severance or cuttingl I9-2l' inclusive.

I then score or perforate the sheet I along 'horizontally parallel linesfvertically spaced; these lines of scoring or perforation are shown yin Figure 4' at 28, 29, Sil, 3l, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 and 3l. These lines of perforation extend from edge to edge of the sheet, as is clearly indicated in Figure vfl, and they are made along the boundary lines of the nine horizontal rows of printed identifying indications. They thus not only mark and identify the upper and lower boundaries of these Avhorizontal rows but they also prepare the individual vertical -rows for segregation crosswise thereof and into individual rectangular cards, 'each Ybearing indicia asY above outlined.r The uppermost and lowermost lines of scoring or perforation shown at-28 and 3l likewise prepare the vertical rows for easy manual severance from the upper and lower marginal strips Ita and IbA of the sheet IG.

Such asheet is virtually all-inclusive of the needs met with in practice, is simple and inexpensive to produce, and is easily furnished, handled, orshipped tothe user of such designating vcards or indicia, for example, a user of a multidrop annunciator; The sheet may be folded along any one or more lines of perforations or along one or more lines of cutting, and thus lends itself to easy and compact packing or shipping but when unfolded, as when received by the user, the latter simply breaks or tears out of any vertical row the particular card or cards that he wishes to mount on the card holders, such as the holders on the annunciator drops, it being here noted that, instead of having to delve through a large number of individual cards (ninety, for example) all of the cards are before him in sheet form and it is a simple and speedy matter to select the particular designation or designations required.

Now with respect to any given type of holder, such as the holder IQ, the lines of cutting and the lines of perforation or scoring of the sheet I6 of Figure 4 are so spaced that they outline individual cards whose horizontal dimension matches the horizontal dimension of the holder I0 of Figure l while the vertical dimension of the individual cards just about matches the vertical spacing between the bottoms of the grooves or ways provided by the flanges I2 and I3; thus, when any individual card, referring now to Figure 4, for example the card 38 bearing theA identifying indicia 1,` already severed along its vertical side edges 3B@ and 38h, is manually torn out along the perforations of its upper and lower horizontal edges 33C and 38d, it is ready for insertion into theY holder IE).

But the separation of the card 38 from its vertical row as above described leaves -the upper and lower edges 38C and 38d virtually serrated, as is better shown in Figure l in which the upper serrated edge 38@ is shown in perspective.

The card 38 is then slid in a horizontal direction as viewed in Figure l into the grooves or ways provided by the flanges I2 and I3 whereupon the serrated upper and lower edges of the card 38, because of their serrated and frazzled fibrous character, yieldingly but with secure friction engage or bottom in the grooves or ways to hold the card 38 from horizontal displacement. Moreover, the flanges I2 and I3 conceal the torn or serrated upper and lower edges while the cleancut sides edges 38a and 38b become alined with the side boundaries of the back plate I I, presenting a neat appearance. 4 s

The character of the upper and lower edges 38C and 38d and their coaction with the grooves or ways in which they are received are important for I am enabled to achieve many thoroughly practical advantages thereby; for example, if these edges were cu-t, and assuming that they initially were snugly receivedy and fitted within the grooves or ways of the flanges I2-I3, a subsequent even slight shrinkage of the paper or cardboard of the card 3 8 leaves the latter in a loosened condition in the holder from which it, under the vibration and movement to which the holder is subjected inpractice, could easily slide out. But the fibrous and serrated character of the edges that I provide according to certain fea- 'tures of my invention insures a sufficient range of yieldability as well as a greater areaV of contact with the metal holding parts as to prevent such actions as just described from taking place.

Where, under certain practical conditions, the card holder is provided with grooves, slots, or ways that extend vertically, such as in the holder 42 of Figure 2, in which the sheet metalanges`s43 and fl'extend vertically instead of horizontally as do the flanges I 2 and I3 of Figure 1, I provide va sheet 5' shown in Figure 3, made up in'substantially the same steps as those outlined above -'['l in connection with Figure 4 excepting that the lines of scoring or perforations, shown in Figure 3 at 46, extend vertically between the upper and lower edges, while the lines of severance or cutting indicated at 41 in Figure 3 extend horizontally and terminate short of the ltwo side edges of the sheet 45, thus to provide marginal portions 45a and 45b which hold the horizontally severed rows of cards or designations together. V

To mount a card in the holder 42 of Figure 2, such as the card 48 of Figure 3, the card is torn along the perforated side edges 43a and 48b thereof, thus not only freeing the card from the sheet 45 but also giving its two side edges 48aL and 48b the serrated brous and frazzled character above described in connection with the upper and lower edges 38c and 38d of -the card 38 of Figures 1 and 4.

The card 48 is then inserted into the holder 42, its upper and lower cut edges presenting a neat appearance while its serrated side edges are not only hidden in back of the anges 43 and 44 (Figure 2) but also coact with the bottom walls of the grooves or ways as will now be clear in view of what has above been set forth.

Insofar as certain features of my invention are concerned, the sheet of which the cards are made may be of any other material, for example, like celluloid, the serrations of the edges being thus individually yieldable.

It will thus be seen that there has been pro vided in this invention an identifying card assembly and method of achieving the same in which the various objects hereinabove set forth, together with many thoroughly practical advantages, are successfully achieved, and the many disadvantages and diiiiculties of prior practices successfully eliminated.

As many possible embodiments may be made of the mechanical features of the above invention and as the art herein described might be varied in various parts, all without departing from the scope of the invention, it is to be understood that all mattei' hereinabove set forth or shown in the accompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a'limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A sheet of connected cards bearing appropria-te indicia; the said cards being individually intended to be supported between opposed iianges of sheet metal holders for annunciators and the like, said sheet being cut through in one direction in parallel lines terminating short of two opposed edges of the sheet and the spacing of said parallel lines being substantially equivalent to the length of the iianged edges of said sheet metal holders, and being scored along parallel lines extending crosswise of the cuts and between the remaining two opposed edges of the sheet, the spacing between the parallel lines of scoring being substantially equivalent to the spacing between the inner portions of the opposed flanges of said holders, said lines of cut and lines of scoring sub-dividing the sheet into quadrangles within which the respective indicia are centered, whereby, when any one card is separated and removed from said sheet by tearing along the lines of scoring, the ytorn scored edges of the card provide yieldable fibrous edges for yielding frictional engagement with the said flanges of said holder. Y

2. An indicator card for insertion into an indicating card holder that has two opposed grooves into which a card may be slid, comprising, in combination, a card made of cardboard and having serrated and torn edge portions, thereby made yieldable, and each adapted -to be received in one of the grooves of the card holder.

3. An indicator card for insertion into an indicating card holder that has two opposed grooves into which a card may be slid, comprising, in combination, a card having a relatively stiff main body portion and two opposed substantially parallel edge portions, each adapted to be received in one of said grooves of the holder, one of said edge portions of the card being yieldable for yieldable engagement in its groove.

4. An indicator card for insertion into an indicating card holder that has two opposed grooves into which a card may be slid, comprising, in combination, a card having a relatively stiff main body portion and two opposed subs-tantially parallel edge portions, each adapted to be received in one of said grooves of the holder, and each edge portion being serrated whereby the serrations thereof effect a yieldable wedging of the card between said two grooves.

ROBERT S. EDWARDS. 

